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Excitement: Starting a New Novel
There’s an excitement in the air! I’ve started a new novel project. Here’s what I don’t want to happen: I don’t want the excitement for this project to get bogged down and dribble away. It happens too easily, as life issues take over, as problems arise with the project, or just as the work drags […]
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Saying, “NO!” to an Editor
Hurrah! You have a revision letter from an editor and you are going to make every single, solitary, revision the editor asks for. Right? Maybe. When can you say, “No,” to an editor? You can refuse a contract for any number of reasons. Money, vision for the published manuscript, an unkind word. You never have […]
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DECISIONS: What and How to Revise
The process of revising your novel or story is a series of decisions and understanding the decision process can strengthen your revision process. Avoid Narrow Framing of the Story You get a letter from an editor that says something like this: “When Michelle is shot with an arrow, I wonder if she really needs to […]
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FN 001: Shrunken Manuscript – 6 Ways to See Your Manuscript
Welcome to the first Fiction Notes Podcast, where you’ll learn six ways to use the Shrunken Manuscript. I teach a novel revision retreat; in order to attend, you must have a complete draft of a novel and we spend the weekend talking about how to revise that manuscript. The workbook for that is Novel Metamorphosis: […]
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Make Readers Pay Attention
The kindergarten class in Room 9B was an odd class. The kindergarten class in 9B was odd. Which sentence is more effective? What is the most important work in the sentences? Odd. It’s an important word because it distinguishes this class from all others. The next sentence of my picture book 19 Girls and Me […]
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Adding Emotional Depth: Video
Adding emotional depth to a novel is important enough to warrant a special pass through the manuscript. This video talks about how I did that on a recent mss. If you can’t see this video, click here. This is an experiment with doing a video to explain something about writing and revising. Please comment and […]